Dempsey

Submitted by sfr on Fri, 2020-02-07 10:32
Text: 
Go Down, Moses
Character Key: 
Jack Dempsey
Display Name: 
Dempsey
Sort Name: 
Dempsey, Jack
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
Lower Class
Rank: 
Peripheral
Vitality: 
Alive
Occupation: 
Other
Specific Job: 
Prize Fighter
First Mentioned: 
Logging Company Railroad in Go Down, Moses (Location)
Other Texts: 
"Lion"
Biography: 

Born John Joseph Killion in Greenpoint, New York, he took the professional name of "Jake Kilrain" to protect his parents from the embarrassment of his questionable career. He lost the heavy-weight championship contest to John L. Sullivan in a bare-knuckle fight that went 75 rounds in Richbourg, Mississippi, on August 7, 1889. His name is mentioned as a way to describe how the hunters in Yoknapatawpha feel about their sport: "Boon and the conductor and the brakeman talked about Lion and Old Ben as people talked about Sullivan and Kilrain or Dempsey and Tunney" (218).

Ontological Status: 
Historical/Real
Individual or Group: 
Individual
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/22476